You can come too, too, too, or rather visit yourself as we have obviously already been and loved it. This year for Mothers Day our family went to The Melbourne Zoo with a party of six mothers and their respective family there were quite a few of us, and what better way to celebrate Mothers Day than at the zoo together. The thing I liked about going in such a big group was that other than spending lunch together, we all went our own way in smaller groups and kept meeting back up together. Some people like to spend quite a long time looking at the one animal, some like to look and then move on (this is me), some like looking at certain animals more so than others and vice versa. What I am saying it is nice to go to the zoo and take your own time looking at the different animals. I took so many photos on the day it was like I was training to be a paparazzi, so how am I going to narrow down the photos I want to incorporate into my blog? Well, I had some standout favourites and some standout enclosures I would happily give a miss next time.
It is no secret that the Lemurs were my absolute favourite of all the animals at the zoo. Their enclosure was amazing you can actually walk among them, in saying that the lovely rangers who are in there do ask that you keep a metres distance between yourself and these super cute creatures. Keeping a distance from them meant that myself and my family (especially our little one) had to constantly move as these little balls of fur are so tame that they are not in the least bit afraid of humans and actually do get quite close. I also had to be vigilant of were I was walking as I turned around to walk away from one and nearly bumped into another on the ground a couple of times. The first picture above shows one of them just wandering across the footpath. They are very friendly towards each other and all seemed to be good friends grooming one another and keeping close to stay warm on what was quite a cold day. They didn't even fight when the rangers spoilt them with pieces of carrot, which they adored. Apparently, they love bananas and the ranger was telling us of times that the Lemurs have jumped into prams and stolen children's bananas from them, in saying that other than the occasional stolen banana the public cannot feed the Lemurs so leave that for the rangers. If you are wanting to feed the Lemur's yourself, for $32.00 Melbourne Zoo's do offer a Close-up Encounter which will bring you face-to-face with some of their most popular personalities including the Lemurs. Purchasing a Close-up Encounter directly contributes to Zoos Victoria's work to fight wildlife extinction.
My close second favourite enclosure to visit is the beautiful butterfly's. You can't get any more interactive than have one of them land right on you, just be careful you are not taking any passengers out with you. It is lovely and warm in there and I recommend removing your beanie and winter jacket before entering or you will roast. The butterfly enclosure is a moving sky of colour and the enclosure itself is picturesque, the butterflies certainly have a lovely home and it is a joy to visit.
The Elephants what enormous majestic creatures they are, I must admit I could look at these clever souls for quite some time. In the photo with multiple elephants (I am not sure that three is enough to describe as a 'herd') the one to the left was busy using his trunk to pick up what looked to be some sort of palm sugar lump larger than a bowling ball and throw it to the ground breaking it up. As if that had not broken it up enough, he/she then decided to stand on it and squish it, by which stage it was small enough to eat. The other one across the water was busy collecting lettuce leaves to take over towards the fence and eat. Lovely creatures.
Tall, tall, tall is certainly a concise way to describe these wondrous animals, hungry would be another describing word as they ate their hay using their great long tongues the entire time, I stood admiring them. I think of all the enclosures at the zoo to me this one is the one that has changed the least, when I cast my mind back to childhood visits to the zoo this is how I remember their enclosure to look like, I shall have to dig up some old photos and compare.
The Wild Sea; Fish, Port Jacksons, Seals and Penguins were my highlights of this area. Amazing I love watching them swimming about showing off their aquatic skills, their enclosures look amazing and are so well designed for people to get a fabulous view. Children get so excited in this section as you can see the animals it's not like other enclosures were you are trying to find the animals. The penguins are nothing less than gorgeous, little waddling creatures they are, the fairy penguins or as they are now known as 'little penguins' (I am not making that change sorry, they will always be fairies to me) are very little at only 30cm in height. Compared to their largest cousins, the Emperor Penguins, which stand up to 100cm tall they look tiny.
The Gorillas, Cassowary, Cotton-Top Tamarin, Wild Dogs and Meerkats cannot be forgotten either. We especially liked the Cotton-Top Tamarin they incredibly cute, sorry the photo is not great, but I had to add it for sheer cuteness value. On the opposite end of the cuteness scale lies the Wild Dog's they I am afraid were terrifying not cute at all, in fact I was very pleased there was glass between us. I did mention at the start there were some enclosures I would happily forgo, that would have to be the Lion Gorge. The animals in here were hard to spot, which is great for them I am happy they have room to roam and hide. The Tasmanian Devils are nocturnal so were obviously asleep. The others just excellent hiders.
The superbly kept gardens really compliment the animals, and I thought that they themselves were something to admire. I have possibly kept my favourite part of the zoo experience to myself thus far, The Carousel I adore it. I loved it as a small child and love it to this day, it's not a trip to the zoo without a ride on it as far as I am concerned.
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